Preserving - West Coast Notebook

Having extra fruit I decided to see how to use an Instant Pot as a steam juicer. This actually wasn't my first thought as originally I had just watched a video on making juice with a steam juicer and I thought... "I need to get me one of these". Going to Amazon I checked out their selection. (If you are interested you can check them out on Amazon here) Scrolling through the options I realized that if ordered it was going to take a few days to get here and the fruit was ripe Now! Also, the price was a little more than I was willing to pay right at the moment. Given that I knew how to use Google I typed in "DIY steam juicer". And I found one result. Doing a little further search on images there seemed to be other options but they all looked very complicated and I didn't have a lot of the equipment they required. A little more research was required. How Do Steam Juicers Work? Juicers have 3 basic components. bottom pot - holds water middle pot - has a spigot and is where the juice is caught top pot - is where the fruit goes I found that steam juicers work on the principle that the steam produced by the water in the bottom of the pot breaks down the fruit causing it to release its juices into the middle container. What Can You Do With Steamed Juice Besides Juice? That was the first question Rob asked me when I told him I was going to make some. The good news is there are many uses for juice. juice (the obvious) jelly liqueur cider wine cordial or squash But basically, I just wanted an easy way to extract the juice from the fruit without me having to spend all my time in the kitchen manually preparing it. Once that was done I could then decided what I wanted to do with it. After reading some articles and reviews on how a steam juicer worked and the mechanics of it I thought that maybe I could put one together with items in my kitchen. I looked at options such as layering pots and using a vegetable steamer but none of these seemed to fit together tightly enough to work. Then on a forum post, I saw where someone had attempted to use a pressure cooker. And although I didn't have all the equipment that they had used I did have an Instant Pot. This is the Instant Pot that I have and it came from Amazon. I then proceeded to find other items that I would need in order to create a steam juicer. Here are the supplies I ended up with. They are all items that were already in my kitchen. Instant Pot - vegetable steamer - 1/2 pint mason jar - metal bowl The Instant Pot had been a gift from my sister, so I was good to go with that. The vegetable steamer was one that had been around for a while and had lost its handle in the middle. I looked at another steamer that I possessed and the handle would be really easy to take out. You can get a new one on Amazon and they are relatively inexpensive if you don't already have one. The half-pint wide mouth mason jar is short and squat. The diameter is 3 inches and its 2 1/2 inches high. Here is what it looks like on Amazon. The next item is a metal bowl. I tried a few bowls and finally found one that worked for my Instant Pot. You need one that is higher than it is wide. Something like this although I think this one is too big, but it was the shape I was going for. I was lucky that I already had these items at my disposal, but you might have a different size Instant Pot. If so, you will have to adjust the size of the bowl and steamer. Also, you might find a better solution than the items I used but this will give you an idea of what is possible. Instant Pots really can be used for everything. :) Step 1 Put the trivet that came with the Instant Pot in the bottom of the pot Step 2 Add approximately two cups of water or just enough to touch the trivet. Instant Pot Step 3 Place the stainless steel bowl inside the Instant Pot resting on the trivet. Put the metal bowl in the Instant Post Step 4 Place the 1/2 pint wide mouth mason jar into the bowl. You can place it upside down as I did below or right side up. I did it both ways and I found that I liked it upside down the best. When I did it right side up it filled with juice. Add in a half-pint canning jar Step 5 Place the steamer on top of the jar. Add steamer Step 6 Fill the steamer with fruit. How much fruit will depend on the maximum fill height of your Instant Pot and the size of fruit you are processing. Pour in fruit Step 7 Turn on Instant Pot. Through trial and error, I discovered that the best setting for the plums that I was processing was for 30 minutes on high. Turn off the "Keep Warm" button and once the 30 minutes have finished I just let it vent on its own. This worked out great as I could just set it and forget it. Depending on the fruit you are processing and the amount of juice that they have you would probably want to adjust the time. The plums I was juicing were meatier than juicy which is why I processed them for 30 minutes. Set time on Instant Pot Step 8 Once the Instant Pot has released all the steam you just open up the pot and using tongs or some potholder take the steamer basket out with the fruit in it. I just dumped the fruit into the compost bucket but if you are really ambitious you could probably make some fruit butter out of it. Step 9 Remove the jar and even though it was upside down it created a sort of vacuum and there was juice sucked up inside it. When you lift out the jar the juice just runs into the bowl. Step 10 Take out the bowl and pour the juice into a container. I used a 1 quart mason jar so it was easy to store in the fridge. Results I had one gallon of small red plums that I proceeded to juice. 1 gallon of fruit From the one gallon of fruit, I got 1 quart or 4 cups of juice or as we say in Canada - one litre. Results of 1 gallon of fruit Some of the juice I mixed with a sugar mixture which consisted of adding boiling water to some sugar until it dissolved (the amount will depend on the sweetness you want). Adding this to the juice a bit at a time until I got the taste just right I then added some additional water as the juice was concentrated and too strong for just drinking on its own. This is not an exact science and will differ for each person's tastes. The remainder of the juice I froze in Ziploc freezer bags and laid them flat in the freezer so they didn't take up much room. Then, whenever I wanted some fresh juice, I could just thaw out a bag and use it. Not adding any sugar to the frozen juice would allow me to make jelly out of it at a later date if needed. Note: the above instruction is meant to give you an overview of how to use an Instant Pot as a steam juicer. You can use the supplies you have on hand and I'm assuming you already know how to use an Instant Pot for regular use. The timing to cook will depend on how quickly the fruit will break down. For something like berries I would start with 15 minutes, let the pot cool and check to see if the fruit has lost its juices. You might have to do a little longer or maybe even a shorter time would work. That is something that you will need to explore as it will depend on the fruit and how ripe it is. Just in case you have never used an Instant Pot or need a refresher here is a great video that gives you an overview as well as a step by step guide to make the process easy. Jigsaw Puzzle If you need help with instructions click here. Jigsaw Puzzle